Dumas, Gormley, Emin donate works to charity sale

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Britain's Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley and South Africa's Marlene Dumas are among the artists who have contributed works to a charity sale at Sotheby's in September.

Proceeds from the September 21 London auction, expected to fetch several hundreds of thousands of pounds (dollars), will go to the Africa Foundation and Ikamva Labantu, charities which fund care and support of orphaned and vulnerable children.

"We expect interest from many prominent contemporary art collectors and philanthropists and we hope to raise a great deal of money for these deserving charities as a result," said Oliver Barker, a senior specialist in contemporary art at Sotheby's.

Behind the sale is South African artist Beezy Bailey and philanthropists Tara and Jessica Getty. One painting on sale is a collaboration between Bailey and rock star David Bowie.

Among the highlights are expected to be sculptor Gormley's 2009 work "Standing Matter XX", estimated to be worth 100-120,000 pounds, and "Would Jesus have done the same?", a picture by Dumas dated 1994 and estimated at 15-20,000 pounds ($24,642-$32,853).

Dumas, who often works from photographs and is well known for her disturbing images of children, is one of contemporary art's high fliers whose top works fetch millions of dollars. Around 40 artists from Britain and South Africa have pledged works for the sale.